AMD and 90nm Manufacturing: Paving the Way for Tomorrow, Today
By Texpert
AMD Athlon 64 processors centering on the 90nm manufacturing process are already available at retail. However, the transition is still in progress. AMD expects that approximately 50 percent of all eighth-generation wafer starts will be 90nm by the end of 2004. The rapid ramp-up will continue into 2005 across the mobile, desktop, server, and workstation segments. AMD’s current roadmap posits that all processors will be manufactured at 90nm midway through 2005.
One of the most significant factors contributing to AMD’s success with 90nm is APM version 2.0, the automated material processing approach used to maximize both quality and efficiency during manufacturing. Now, automating the way materials move within a Fab is nothing new; APM takes that a step further, though, by also automating the way decisions are made during the process. In short, it enables each tool in the manufacturing line to subtly adjust AMD’s master recipe according to information received from other equipment. The result is optimized yield for every lot of 25 wafers.
Even as AMD focuses attention on ramping up 90nm production, it’s already building another fabrication plant in Dresden, Germany, that will spearhead a push to 65nm manufacturing in 2006. Fab 36, as it is called, will handle 300mm wafers using the third generation of AMD’s APM methodology. APM 3.0 extends the yield control of its predecessor by gathering information about each processor die and adjusting the master recipe on a per-wafer basis. APM 3.0 provides a tighter integration of the process control systems with the other parts of the factory (active scheduling, predictive yield management, automated decision making etc.). The combination of 300mm wafers, 65nm manufacturing, and APM 3.0 promises to maximize manufacturing efficiency.
Until then, AMD will make further enhancements to its 90nm manufacturing process by adding strained silicon, increasing drive current by stretching the silicon atoms that comprise the channel region of each transistor.
Next Up: Dual-Core
The perpetual miniaturization of electronic circuits is certainly enabling exciting new possibilities. Beyond today’s AMD Athlon 64 processor lineup, there is a family of dual-core processors planned that center on the same eighth-generation architecture. The technology has already been publicly demonstrated using an HP ProLiant DL585 server with four physical socket interfaces and 90nm, dual-core, AMD Opteron processors.
AMD’s dual-core processors are being designed with today’s infrastructure in mind. System integrators will have no problem incorporating AMD Opteron processors into existing platforms and any desktop motherboard supporting a 90nm AMD Athlon 64 processor will accommodate dual-core descendants of the chip as well.
The seamlessness of AMD’s dual-core adoption is due to a couple of notable factors. One is 90nm manufacturing, which reduces power consumption to the point that putting two cores on one die is feasible, even though the task requires roughly 205 million transistors. And despite that extra functionality, the die size of a dual-core AMD Opteron processor will resemble its 130nm predecessor.
Another key ingredient is the micro-architecture’s design. AMD Opteron processors already feature the crossbar switch and system request interface needed to arbitrate between two cores. Thus, the addition of another processing core and cache repository is made much more elegant. And because both cores share a memory controller and HyperTransport™ technology resources, the processor’s pin-outs remain consistent with existing interfaces.
Conclusion
AMD’s experience manufacturing 130nm transistors using copper interconnects, SOI, and low-k dielectrics is paying off today in its rapid shift to 90nm. Not only do the 90nm processors boast improved power characteristics, but they are generally regarded as featuring better clock scalability as well. Consequently, AMD is in a strong position moving forward, as its low-power consumption numbers are an encouraging sign for the micro-architecture’s future.
With strained silicon already a part of the AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor, you can expect to see AMD making further adjustments to its 90nm process in the months to come, leading up to availability of dual-core processors scheduled for 2005. The completion of Fab 36 will culminate the life of 90nm as AMD shifts gears to 65nm manufacturing and begins tooling up for the eventual adoption of 45nm and beyond.
